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Besides being of use on land for war purposes, balloons have also been tried in connexion with the naval service. In France especially regular trials have been made of inflating balloons on board ships, and sending them aloft as a look-out; but it is now generally contended that the difficulties of storing the gas and of manoeuvring the balloon are so great on board ship as to be hardly worth the results to be gained.

A very important development of military ballooning is that of the navigable balloon. If only a balloon could be sent up and driven in any required direction, and brought back to its starting-point, it is obvious that it would be of the very greatest use in war.

balloons.

From the very first invention of balloons the problem has been how to navigate them by propulsion. General J. B. M. C. Meusnier (1754-1793) proposed an elongated balloon Dirigible in 1784. It was experimented on by the brothers Robert, who made two ascensions and claimed to have obtained a deviation of 22° from the direction of a light wind by means of aerial oars worked by hand. The relative speed was probably about 3 m. an hour, and it was so evident that a very much more energetic light motor than any then known was required to stem ordinary winds that nothing more was attempted till 1852, when Henri Giffard (1825-1882) ascended with a steam-engine of then unprecedented lightness. The subjoined table exhibits some of the results subsequently obtained :

EXPERIMENTS WITH DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS
Lifting Weight Weight
Capa- of
of
city. Balloon. Motor.

Dia- Conmeter.

Speed H.P. per hour.

fact is that the range of a balloon in mid-air is extremely difficult | form balloon "La France," in which the "master" or maximum to judge, and, as its altitude can be very rapidly altered, it becomes section was about one-quarter of the distance from the stem. a very difficult mark for artillery to hit. A few bullet-holes in the fabric of a balloon make but little difference, since the size of the The propelling screw was at the front of the car and driven by perforation is very minute as compared with the great surface of an electric motor of unprecedented lightness. Seven ascents material, but on the other hand, a shrapnel bursting just in front of were made on very calm days, a maximum speed of 14 m. an it may cause a rapid fall. It is therefore considered prudent to keep hour was obtained, and the balloon returned to its starting-point the balloon well away from an enemy, and two miles are laid down as the nearest approach it should make habitually. on five of the seven occasions. Subsequently another balloon was constructed, said to be capable of a speed of 22 to 28 m. per hour, with a different motor. After many years of experiment Dr Wölfert built and experimented with in Berlin, in 1897, a cigar-shaped balloon driven by a gasoline motor. An explosion took place in the air, the balloon fell and Dr Wölfert and his assistant were killed. It was also in 1897 that an aluminium balloon was built from the designs of D. Schwarz and tested in Berlin. It was driven by a Daimler benzine motor, and attained a greater speed than "La France "; but a driving belt slipped, and in coming down the balloon was injured beyond repair. From 1897 onwards Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, of the German army, was engaged in constructing an immense balloon, truly an airship, of most careful and most intelligent design, to carry five men. It consisted of an aluminium framework containing sixteen gas bags with a total capacity of nearly 400,000 cub. ft., and it had two cars, each containing a 16 h.p. motor. It was first tested in June 1900, when it attained a speed of 18 m. an hour and travelled a distance of 3 m. before an accident to the steering gear necessitated the discontinuance of the experiment. In 1905 Zeppelin built a second airship which had a slightly smaller capacity but much greater power, its two motors each developing 85 h.p. This, after making some successful trips, was wrecked in a violent gale, and was succeeded by a third airship, which, at its trial in October 1906, travelled round Lake Constance and showed itself able to execute numerous curves and traverses. At a second series of trials in September 1907, after some alterations had been effected, it attained a speed of 36 m. an hour, remaining in the air for many hours and carrying nine or eleven passengers. A fourth vessel of similar design, but with more powerful motors, was tried in 1908, and succeeded in travelling 250 m. in 11 hours, but owing to a storm it was wrecked when on land and burnt at Echterdingen on the 5th of August. Subscriptions, headed by the emperor, were at once raised to enable Zeppelin to build another. Giffard, the future inventor of the injector, devised a steam- Meanwhile in 1901 Alberto Santos Dumont had begun exengine weighing, with fuel and water for one hour, 154 lb per periments with dirigible balloons in Paris, and on the 19th of horse-power, and was bold enough to employ it in proximity to October won the Deutsch prize by steering a balloon from St a balloon inflated with coal gas. He was not able to stem a Cloud round the Eiffel tower and back in half an hour, encountermedium wind, but attained some deviation. He repeated the ing on his return journey a wind of nearly 5 metres a second. experiment in 1855 with a more elongated spindle, which proved An airship constructed by Pierre and Paul Lebaudy in 1904 unstable and dangerous. During the siege of Paris the French also made a number of successful trials in the vicinity of Paris; government decided to build a navigable balloon, and entrusted with a motor of 40 h.p., its speed was about 25 m. an hour, the work to the chief naval constructor, Dupuy de Lôme. He and it regularly carried three passengers. In October 1907 the went into the subject very carefully, made estimates of all the "Nulli Secundus," an airship constructed for the British War strains, resistances and speeds, and tested the balloon in 1872. Office, sailed from Farnborough round St Paul's Cathedral, Deviations of 12° were obtained from the course of a wind blow- London, to the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, a distance of about ing 27 to 37 m. per hour. The screw propeller was driven by 50 m., in 3 hours 35 minutes. The weight carried, including eight labourers, a steam-engine being deemed too dangerous; two occupants, was 3400 lb, and the maximum speed was 24 m. but it was estimated that had one been used, weighing as much an hour, with a following wind of 8 m. an hour. as the men, the speed would have been doubled. Tissandier and his brother applied an electric motor, lighter than any previously built, to a spindle-shaped balloon, and went up twice in 1883 and 1884. On the latter occasion he stemmed a wind of 7 m. per hour. The brothers abandoned these experiments, which had been carried on at their own expense, when the French War Department took up the problem. Renard and Krebs, the officers in charge of the War Aeronautical Department at Meudon, built and experimented with in 1884 and 1885 the fusi

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1852 Giffard

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Thus the principles which govern the design of the dirigible balloon may be said to have been evolved. As the lifting power grows as the cube of the dimensions, and the resistance approximately as the square, the advantage lies with the larger sizes of balloons, as of ocean steamers, up to the limits within which they may be found practicable. Count Zeppelin gained an advantage by attaching his propellers to the balloon, instead of to the car as heretofore; but this requires a rigid framework and a great increase of weight. Le Compagnon endeavoured, in 1892,

to substitute flapping wings for rotary propellers, as the former | velocity is sometimes very great. It is also convenient, if the can be suspended near the centre of resistance. C. Danilewsky district upon which the balloon is descending appear unsuitable followed him in 1898 and 1899, but without remarkable results. for landing, to be able to rise again. The ballast consists of fine Dupuy de Lôme was the first to estimate in detail the resistances baked sand, which becomes so scattered as to be inappreciable to balloon propulsion, but experiment showed that in the before it has fallen far below the balloon. It is taken up in bags aggregate they were greater than he calculated. Renard and containing about cwt. each. The balloon at starting is liberated Krebs also found that their computed resistances were largely by a spring catch which the aeronaut releases, and the ballast exceeded, and after revising the results they gave the formula should be so adjusted that there is nearly equilibrium before R=0.01685 D2V2, R being the resistance in kilograms, D the leaving, else the rapidity of ascent is too great, and has to be diameter in metres and V the velocity in metres per second. checked by parting with gas. It is almost impossible to liberate Reduced to British measures, in pounds, feet and miles per the balloon in such a way as to avoid giving it a rotary motion hour, R=0.0006876 D2V2, which is somewhat in excess of the about a vertical axis, which continues during the whole time it formula computed by Dr William Pole from Dupuy de Lôme's is in the air. This rotation makes it difficult for those in the car experiments. The above coefficient applies only to the shape to discover in what direction they are moving; and it is only and rigging of the balloon "La France," and combines all resist- by looking down along the rope to which the grapnel is suspended ances into one equivalent, which is equal to that of a flat plane that the motion of the balloon over the country below can be 18% of the "master section." This coefficient may perhaps traced. The upward and downward motion at any instant is hereafter be reduced by one-half through a better form of hull at once known by merely dropping over the side of the car a and car, more like a fish than a spindle, by diminished sections small piece of paper: if the paper ascends or remains on the of suspension lines and net, and by placing the propeller at the same level or stationary, the balloon is descending; while, if centre of resistance. To compute the results to be expected it descends, the balloon is ascending. This test is exceedingly from new projects, it will be preferable to estimate the resistances delicate. in detail. The following table shows how this was done by Dupuy de Lôme, and the probable corrections which should have been made by him:

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When the resistances have been reduced to the lowest possible minimum by careful design, the attainable speed must depend upon the efficiency of the propeller and the relative lightness of the motor. The commercial uses of dirigible balloons, however, will be small, as they must remain housed when the wind aloft is brisk. The sizes will be great and costly, the loads small, and the craft frail and short-lived, yet dirigible balloons constitute the obvious type for governments to evolve, until they are superseded by efficient flying machines. (See further, as to the latter, the article FLIGHT AND FLYING.)

Practice of aerostation.

The chief danger attending ballooning lies in the descent; for if a strong wind be blowing, the grapnel will sometimes trail for miles over the ground at the rate of ten or twenty miles an hour, catching now and then in hedges, ditches, roots of trees, &c.; and, after giving the balloon a terrible jerk, breaking loose again, till at length some obstruction, such as the wooded bank of a stream, affords a firm hold. This danger, however, has been much reduced by the use of the "ripping-cord," which enables a panel to be ripped open and the balloon to be completely deflated in a few seconds, just as it is reaching the earth. But even a very rough descent is usually not productive of any very serious consequences; as, although the occupants of the car generally receive many bruises and are perhaps cut by the ropes, it rarely happens that anything worse Occurs. On a day when the wind is light (supposing that there is no want of ballast) nothing can be easier than the descent, and the aeronaut can decide several miles off on the field in which he will alight. It is very important to have a good supply of ballast, so as to be able to check the rapidity of the descent, as in passing downwards through a wet cloud the weight of the balloon is enormously increased by the water deposited on it; and if there is no ballast to throw out in compensation, the

References.-Tiberius Cavallo, Treatise on the Nature and Properties of Air and other permanently Elastic Fluids (London, 1781); Idem, History and Practice of Aerostation (London, 1785); Vincent Lunardi, Account of the First Aerial Voyage in England, in a Series of Letters to his Guardian (London, 1785); Ť. Forster, Annals of some Remarkable Aerial and Alpine Voyages (London, 1832); Monck Mason, Aeronautica (London, 1838); John Wise, A System of Aeronautics, comprehending its Earliest Investigations (Philadelphia, 1850); Hatton Turnor, Astra Castra, Experiments and Adventures in the Atmosphere (London, 1865); J. Glaisher, C. Flammarion, W. de Fonvielle and G. Tissandier, Voyages aériens (Paris, 1870) (translated and edited by James Glaisher under the title Travels in the Air (London, 1871); O. Chanute, Progress in Flying Machines (New York, 1894); W. de Fonvielle, Les Ballons sondes (Paris, 1899); Idem, Histoire de la navigation aérienne (Paris, 1907); F. Walker, Aerial Navigation (London, 1902); J. Lecornu, La Navigation aérienne (Paris, 1903); M. L. Marchis, Leçons sur la navigation aérienne (Paris, 1904), containing many references to books and periodicals on pp. 701-704; Navigating the Air (papers collected by the Aero Club of America) (New York, 1907); A. Hildebrandt, Airships past and present (London, 1908).

AEROTHERAPEUTICS, the treatment of disease by atmospheric air: a term which of late has come to be used somewhat more loosely to include also pneumotherapeutics, or the treatment of disease by artificially prepared atmospheres. The physical and chemical properties of atmospheric air, under ordinary pressure or under modified pressure, may be therapeutically utilized either on the external surface of the body, on the respiratory surface, or on both surfaces together. Also modifications may be induced in the ventilation of the lungs by general gymnastics or respiratory gymnastics.

The beneficial effects of air under ordinary pressure are now utilized in the open-air treatment of phthisical patients, and the main indications of benefit resulting therefrom are reduction of the fever, improvement of appetite and the induction of sleep.

The air, however, may be modified in composition or in temperature. Inhalation is the most common and successful method of applying it-when modified in composition-to the human body. The methods in use are as follows: (1) Inhalation of gases, as oxygen and nitrous oxide. The dyspnoea and cyanosis of pneumonia, capillary bronchitis, heart failure, &c., are much relieved by the inhalation of oxygen; and nitrous oxide is largely used as an anaesthetic in minor operations. (2) Certain liquids are used as anaesthetics, which volatilize at low temperatures, as chloroform and ether. (3) Mercury and sulphur, both of which require heat for volatilization, are very largely used. In a mercurial or sulphur bath, the patient, enveloped in a sheet, sits on a chair beneath which a spirit lamp is placed to vaporize the drug, the best results being obtained when the atmosphere is surcharged with steam at the same time. The vapour envelops the patient and is absorbed by the skin. This method is extensively used in the treatment of syphilis, and also for scabies and other parasitic affections of the skin. (4) Moist inhalations are rather losing repute in the light of modern

attained to some note as painters.

investigations, which tend to show that nothing lower than the | books he is entered as Langhe Peter, schilder. Three of his sons larger bronchial tubes is affected. Complicated apparatus has been devised for the application, although a wide-mouthed jug filled with boiling water, into which the drug is thrown, is almost equally efficacious.

Artificial atmospheres may be made for invalids by respirators which cover the mouth and nose, the air being drawn through tow or sponge, on which is sprinkled the disinfectant to be used. This is most valuable in the intensely offensive breath of some cases of bronchiectasis.

The air may be modified as to temperature. Cold air at 32-33° F. has been used in chronic catarrhal conditions of the lungs, with the result that cough diminishes, the pulse becomes fuller and slower and the general condition improves. The more recent observations of Pasquale di Tullio go far to show that this may be immensely valuable in the treatment of haemoptysis. The inspiration of superheated dry air has been the subject of much investigation, but with very doubtful results.

Hot air applied to the skin is more noteworthy in its therapeutic effects. If a current of hot air is directed upon healthy skin, the latter becomes pale and contracts in consequence of vaso-constriction. But if it is directed on a patch of diseased skin, as in lupus, an inflammatory reaction is set up and the diseased part begins to undergo necrosis. This fact has been used with good results in lupus, otorrhoea, rhinitis and other nasal and laryngeal troubles.

AESCHINES (389-314 B.C.), Greek statesman and orator, was born at Athens. The statements as to his parentage and early life are conflicting; but it seems probable that his parents, though poor, were respectable. After assisting his father in his school, he tried his hand at acting with indifferent success, served with distinction in the army, and held several clerkships, amongst them the office of clerk to the Boulē. The fall of Olynthus (348) brought Aeschines into the political arena, and he was sent on an embassy to rouse the Peloponnesus against Philip. In 347 he was a member of the peace embassy to Philip of Macedon, who seems to have won him over entirely to his side. His dilatoriness during the second embassy (346) sent to ratify the terms of peace led to his accusation by Demosthenes and Timarchus on a charge of high treason, but he was acquitted as the result of a powerful speech, in which he showed that his accuser Timarchus had, by his immoral conduct, forfeited the right to speak before the people. In 343 the attack was renewed by Demosthenes in his speech On the False Embassy; Aeschines replied in a speech with the same title and was again acquitted. In 339, as one of the Athenian deputies (pylagorae) in the Amphictyonic Council, he made a speech which brought about the Sacred War. By way of revenge, Aeschines endeavoured to fix the blame for these disasters upon Demosthenes. In 336, when Ctesiphon proposed that his friend Demosthenes should be rewarded with a golden crown for his distinguished services to Lastly the air may be either compressed or rarefied. The the state, he was accused by Aeschines of having violated the physiological effects of compressed air were first studied in law in bringing forward the motion. The matter remained in diving-bells, and more recently in caissons. Caisson workers at abeyance till 330, when the two rivals delivered their speeches first enjoy increased strength, vigour and appetite; later, how- Against Ctesiphon and On the Crown. The result was a complete ever, the opposite effect is produced and intense debility super- victory for Demosthenes. Aeschines went into voluntary exile venes. In addition, caisson workers suffer from a series of at Rhodes, where he opened a school of rhetoric. He afterwards troubles which are known as accidents of decompression. (See removed to Samos, where he died in the seventy-fifth year of CAISSON DISEASE.) But, therapeutically, compressed air has his age. His three speeches, called by the ancients "the Three been utilized by means of pneumatic chambers large enough to Graces," rank next to those of Demosthenes. Photius knew of hold one or more adults at the time, in which the pressure of nine letters by him which he called the Nine Muses; the twelve the atmosphere can be exactly regulated. This form of treat-published under his name (Hercher, Epistolographi Graeci) are ment has been found of much value in the treatment of emphy- not genuine. sema, early pulmonary tuberculosis (not in the presence of ANCIENT AUTHORITIES.-Demosthenes, De Corona and De Falsa persistent high temperature, haemorrhage, softening or suppura-Legatione; Aeschines, De Falsa Legatione and In Ctesiphontem; tion), delayed absorption of pleural effusions, heart disease, anaemia and chlorosis. But compressed air is contra-indicated in advanced tubercle, fever, and in diseases of kidneys, liver or intestines.

Rarefied air was used as long ago as 1835, by V. T. Junod, who utilized it for local application by inventing the Junod Boot. By means of this the blood could be drawn into any part to which it was applied, the vessels of which became gorged with blood at the expense of internal organs. More recently this method of treatment has undergone far-reaching developments and is known as the passive hyperaemic treatment.

There are also various forms of apparatus by means of which air at greater or lesser pressures may be drawn into the lungs, and for the performance of lung gymnastics of various kinds. Mr Ketchum of the United States has invented one which is much used. A committee of the Brompton Hospital, London, investigating its capabilities, decided that its use brought about (1) an increase of chest circumference, and (2) in cases of consolidation of the lung a diminution in the area of dulness.

AERTSZEN (or AARTSEN), PIETER (1507-1573), called "Long Peter" on account of his height, Dutch historical painter, was born and died at Amsterdam. When a youth he distinguished himself by painting homely scenes, in which he reproduced articles of furniture, cooking utensils, &c., with marvellous fidelity, but he afterwards cultivated historical painting. Several of his best works-altar-pieces in various churches-were destroyed in the religious wars of the Netherlands.

An excellent specimen of his style on a small scale, a picture of the crucifixion, may be seen in the Antwerp Museum. Aertszen was a member of the Academy of St Luke, in whose

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Lives by Plutarch, Philostratus and Libanius; the Exegesis of Apollonius. EDITIONS.-Benseler (1855-1860) (trans. and notes), Weidner (1872), Blass (1896); Against Ctesiphon, Weidner (1872), (1878),G.A.and W.H. Simcox(1866), Drake (1872), Richardson (1889), Gwatkin and Shuckburgh (1890). ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS.-Leland toris vita (1841); Marchand, Charakteristik des Redners Aschines (1771), Biddle (1881), and others. See also Stechow, Aeschinis Ora(1876); Castets, Eschine, l'Orateur (1875); for the political problems see histories of Greece, esp. A. Holm, vol. iii. (Eng. trans., 1896); A. Schäfer, Demosth. und seine Zeit (Leipzig, 1856-1858); also DEMOSTHENES.

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AESCHINES (5th century B.C.), an Athenian philosopher. According to some accounts he was the son of a sausage-maker, but others say that his father was Lysanias (Diog. Laert. ii. 60; Suidas, s.v.). He was an intimate friend of Socrates, who is reported to have said that the sausage-maker's son alone knew how to honour him. Diogenes Laertius preserves a tradition that it was he, not Crito, who offered to help Socrates to escape from prison. He was always a poor man, and Socrates advised him to borrow from himself, by diminishing his expenditure." He started a perfumery shop in Athens on borrowed capital, became bankrupt and retired to the Syracusan court, where he was well received by Aristippus. According to Diog. Laert. (ii. 61), Plato, then at Syracuse, pointedly ignored Aeschines, but this does not agree with Plutarch, De adulatore et amico (c. 26). On the expulsion of the younger Dionysius, he returned to Athens, and, finding it impossible to profess philosophy publicly owing to the contempt of Plato and Aristotle, was compelled to teach privately. He wrote also forensic speeches; Phrynichus, in Photius, ranks him amongst the best orators, and mentions his orations as the standard of the pure Attic style. Hermogenes also spoke highly of him (IIepì ideŵv). He wrote several philosophical dialogues: (1) Concerning virtue, whether it can be

plains (Fr. 866) that "the battle is not fair, because my own poetry has not died with me, while Euripides' has died, and therefore he will have it with him to recite "--a clear reference, as the scholiast points out, to the continued production at Athens of Aeschylus' plays after his death.

taught; (2) Eryxias, or Erasistratus; concerning riches, whether | in Hades between Aeschylus and Euripides, the former comthey are good; (3) Axiochus: concerning death, whether it is to be feared, but those extant on the several subjects are not genuine remains. J. le Clerc has given a Latin translation of them, with notes and several dissertations, entitled Silvae Philologicae, and they have been edited by S. N. Fischer (Leipzig, 1786), and K. F. Hermann, De Aeschin. Socrat. relig. (Gött. 1850). The genuine dialogues appear to have been marked by the Socratic irony; an amusing passage is quoted by Cicero in the De inventione (i. 31).

See Hirzel, Der Dialog. i. 129-140; T. Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, vol. iii. p. 342 (Eng. trans. G. G. Berry, London, 1905).

Life.

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AESCHYLUS (525-456 B.C.), Greek poet, the first of the only three Attic Tragedians of whose work entire plays survive, and in a very real sense (as we shall see) the founder of the Greek drama, was born at Eleusis in the year 525 B.C. His father, Euphorion, belonged to the "Eupatridae or old nobility of Athens, as we know on the authority of the short Life of the poet given in the Medicean Manuscript (see note on "authorities" at the end). According to the same tradition he took part as a soldier in the great struggle of Greece against Persia; and was present at the battles of Marathon, Artemisium, Salamis and Plataea, in the years 490-479. At least one of his brothers, Cynaegirus, fought with him at Marathon, and was killed in attempting a conspicuous act of bravery; and the brothers' portraits found a place in the national picture of the battle which the Athenians set up as a memorial in the Stoa Poecile (or "Pictured Porch") at Athens.

The vigour and loftiness of tone which mark Aeschylus' poetic work was not only due, we may be sure, to his native genius and gifts, powerful as they were, but were partly inspired by the personal share he took in the great actions of a heroic national uprising. In the same way, the poet's brooding thoughtfulness on deep questions-the power of the gods, their dealings with man, the dark mysteries of fate, the future life in Hades though largely due to his turn of mind and temperament, was doubtless connected with the place where his childhood was passed. Eleusis was the centre of the most famous worship of Demeter, with its processions, its ceremonies, its mysteries, its impressive spectacles and nocturnal rites; and these were intimately connected with the Greek beliefs about the human soul, and the underworld.

His dramatic career began early, and was continued for more than forty years. In 499, his 26th year, he first exhibited at Athens; and his last work, acted during his lifetime at Athens, was the trilogy of the Oresteia, exhibited in 458. The total number of his plays is stated by Suidas to have been ninety; and the seven extant plays, with the dramas named or nameable which survive only in fragments, amount to over eighty, so that Suidas' figure is probably based on reliable tradition. It is well known that in the 5th century each exhibitor at the tragic contests produced four plays; and Aeschylus must therefore have competed (between 499 and 458) more than twenty times, or once in two years. His first victory is recorded in 484, fifteen years after his earliest appearance on the stage; but in the remaining twenty-six years of his dramatic activity at Athens he was successful at least twelve times. This clearly shows that he was the most commanding figure among the tragedians of 500-458; and for more than half that time was usually the victor in the contests. Perhaps the most striking evidence of his exceptional position among his contemporaries is the well-known decree passed shortly after his death that whosoever desired to exhibit a play of Aeschylus should "receive a chorus," i.e. be officially allowed to produce the drama at the Dionysia. The existence of this decree, mentioned in the Life, is strongly confirmed by two passages in Aristophanes: first in the prologue of the Acharnians (which was acted in 425, thirty-one years after the poet's death), where the citizen, grumbling about his griefs and troubles, relates his great disappointment, when he took his seat in the theatre expecting Aeschylus," to find that when the play came on it was Theognis; and secondly in a scene of the Frogs (acted 405 B.C.), where the throne of poetry is contested

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Apart from fables, guesses and blunders, of which a word is said below, the only other incidents recorded of the poet's life that deserve mention are connected with his Sicilian visits, and the charge preferred against him of revealing the "secrets of | Demeter." This tale is briefly mentioned by Aristotle (Eth. iii. 2), and a late commentator (Eustratius, 12th century) quotes from one Heraclides Pontius the version which may be briefly given as follows:

The poet was acting a part in one of his own plays, where there was a reference to Demeter. The audience suspected him of revealing the inviolable secrets, and rose in fury; the poet fled to the altar of Dionysus in the orchestra and so saved his life for the moment; for even an angry Athenian crowd respected the inviolable sanctuary. He was afterwards charged with the crime before the Areopagus; and his plea "that he did not know that what he said was secret was accepted by the court and secured his acquittal. The commentator adds that the prowess of the poet (and his brother) at Marathon was the real cause of the leniency of his judges. The story was afterwards developed, and embellished by additions; but in the above shape it dates back to the 4th century; and as the main fact seems accepted by Aristotle, it is probably authentic.

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As to his foreign travel, the suggestion has been made that certain descriptions in the Persae, and the known facts that he wrote a trilogy on the story of the Thracian king Lycurgus, persecutor of Dionysus, seem to point to his having a special knowledge of Thrace, which makes it likely that he had visited it. This, however, remains at best a conjecture. For his repeated visits to Sicily, on the other hand, there is conclusive ancient evidence. Hiero the First, tyrant of Syracuse, who reigned about twelve years (478-467), and amongst other efforts after magnificence invited to his court famous poets and men of letters, had founded a new town, Aetna, on the site of Catana which he captured, expelling the inhabitants. Among his guests were Aeschylus, Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides. About 476 Aeschylus was entertained by him, and at his request wrote and exhibited a play called The Women of Aetna in honour of the new town. He paid a second visit about 472, the year in which he had produced the Persae at Athens; and the play is said to have been repeated at Syracuse at his patron's request. Hiero died in 467, the year of the Seven against Thebes; but after 458, when the Oresteia was exhibited at Athens, we find the poet again in Sicily for the last time. In 456 he died, and was buried at Gela; and on his tomb was placed an epitaph in two elegiac couplets saying: "Beneath this stone lies Aeschylus, son of Euphorion, the Athenian, who perished in the wheatbearing land of Gela; of his noble prowess the grove of Marathon can speak, or the long-haired Persian who knows it well." The authorship of this epitaph is uncertain, as the Life says it was inscribed on his grave by the people of Gela, while Athenaeus and Pausanias attribute it to Aeschylus. Probably most people would agree that only the poet himself could have praised the soldier and kept silence about the poetry.

Of the marvellous traditions which gathered round his name little need be said. Pausanias' tale, how Dionysus appeared to the poet when a boy, asleep in his father's vineyard, and bade him write a tragedy or the account in the Life, how he was killed by an eagle letting fall on his head a tortoise whose shell the bird was unable to crack-clearly belong to the same class of legends as the story that Plato was son of Apollo, and that a swarm of bees settled upon his infant lips as he lay in his mother's arms. Less supernatural, but hardly more historical, is the statement in the Life that the poet left Athens for Sicily in consequence of his defeat in the dramatic contest of 468 by Sophocles; or the alternative story of the same authority that the cause of his chagrin was that Simonides' elegy on the heroes

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